From:
Stephanie
Date: 2001-09-22 17:19:00 UTC
Subject: Insulinoma Question
Hi All,
Well, last week Maggie had a low bg episode; spaced out, lethargic and
wobbly. She whined a little but didn't actually have a seizure. We hopped in
the car and started to drive to my vet an hour away, but she couldn't wait
and started cycling between normal and rapid breathing and was just limp so
we detoured to another vet whom had never seen her before but was ferret
knowledgeable. When we got her there and they started IV she didn't react to
anything. The vet said she was in a coma and that they cyclical breathing
usually means brain trauma. Her bg was 40. After about an hour of IV ringers
with dextrose and a shot of pred she suddenly woke up. She stayed at the
vets overnight stabilizing at bg 104 and taken off the IV at Midnight. When
she came home she did very well for a few days on babyfood feedings, 1cc
Clavamox and .2cc Pred (I'm not sure how to read this, but it says 20mg Pred
w/ 6.67 Ferretone). Then she started to slow down a bit over a couple days
and then this morning/afternoon had another episode, but not to the same
point as before, but I could see she was going fast. I took her bg with my
home meter and again she was at 40. I put some Karo on her gums and started
forcing chicken babyfood every half an hour. I just took her bg again and it
is at 79. I would take her to the vet except that all the ferret vets are
gone on the weekends and the emergency hospital has no clue what to do with
ferrets, I usually have to tell them what I need done (like when I needed a
second subq of fluids about 8 hours after getting the first, they fought me
tooth and nail - "we only give animals fluids every 12 hours" - even though
they could see my boy was very dehydrated - his scruff wouldn't go down at
all after pinching).
The only thing I can think of at this point that might have caused this is
that I was an hour late in giving her the pred this morning. Would an hour
make a difference in her being OK? I know I'm not supposed to change meds
dosages and I am going to try to get a hold of one of my vets, but would it
be terribly bad if I gave her .1 extra cc of pred tonight? I know I'm not
supposed to ask these types of questions, but I'm at a loss until I can
figure a way to get in touch with one of my vets.
Thanks in advance,
Stephanie
with Maggie, Bullwinkle, Shasta, Nanook and Nyla
missing with all my heart Icabod and Emeline